GCash Review – All you need to know

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Hi Everyone! Today, I’m going to give a full review of Globe GCash. You may be reading this just to know a few things about it or you may be planning to have a GCash acct. Whatever the reason is, I’ll try to make sure that everything will be covered.

I’ve been using mobile payment methods like GCash, SmartMoney, and coins.ph ever since it was available. I used to have Smart Money because I can’t open an account way back and I needed a card for making some purchases. The thing is I have no IDs before. At the same time, I can’t live without load (even though I have no text mates or whatever). With mobile payments services like the ones I have mentioned, they all have the facilities to buy load anytime you need it. For me, it’s just very convenient.

These mobile payment services are getting popular nowadays because of the convenience that it offers. I’m really glad that they are also expanding new ways to use their services.

With this review, I am going to give out the good and the bad. As usual, I’m basing it on my overall experience with Globe Gcash.

Let’s start with the good things of GCash!

  • First of all, I like the fact that you can use it for free. Almost all transactions are free. The only thing they charge you for is sending money or cash out. Based on their website the fee for sending money is 10 PHP /1000 pesos and 20 ph/1000 pesos for cash out. It’s fair enough for remittances.
  • You can pay bills and buy load anytime. You get to earn a 5% rebate for buying load which is available to all networks.
  • A lot more free Cash-in methods, like generating code for 7eleven, using debit cards (VISA and MasterCard), PayPal and Online Banking.
  • My favorite feature is the American Express Virtual card, I’m actually enjoying this feature. Once you activate this feature they will assign you a US phone number and address so you can purchase from US online stores. I haven’t purchased anything from the US but as far as I know, there would be some cost for you to use the address because they will deliver the item to you in the Philippines. The reason why I love this feature is that I can use it as a regular card for online transactions and I can change the security code anytime. So far I haven’t had any extra charges from using it. I’m not sure though if they would charge me for renewal once the card number has expired.
  • Receiving money from PayPal. This is useful for those who freelance. During the old days, you have to add your credit or debit card to withdraw funds from PayPal. Also, it was used to be costing some money in withdrawing funds. With this GCash feature, users are allowed to link their PayPal for withdrawals that are free of charge. The transactions are almost real-time or up to 24 hours which is way better than before when you cash out using a card.
  • Book a movie ticket from the nearest movie house using the GCash App! The app uses location to tell you the nearest movie theater. They charge a convenience of 25 PHP per ticket.
  • They also partnered up with some physical stores to accept QR Payments. I already tried this feature at KFC, SM The Store, and Puregold. Every payday I usually put at least 1000 PHP on my GCash, which I use in case I’m out of budget for food at work or if my kids suddenly needed some stocks for biscuits and diapers.
  • Last but not least, I like the easy access through their app. I am using a postpaid now and I left my prepaid with my husband. Even though I am not using the sim anymore, I can still access my GCash using the app. You can also use some features like buying load, sending money and paying bills through *143# when you are out of load or data using the original sim you used upon registration.

Now let’s talk about the things I didn’t like much about GCASH.

Gcash is probably aware of these concerns that customers are encountering. I still wanted to share it so that they’ll do their best to fix it.

As I have stated earlier I enjoyed using AMEX virtual card. One time, I had an accidental purchase on the App Store so, I requested for a refund. Apple processed the refund accordingly and normally you should be getting the refund within a week. However, when I inquired with GCash via email if how long would it usually appear, they advised me to file a chargeback. For those who don’t know what chargeback is — it is a process of reporting unauthorized/fraudulent charge with your bank. That process usually takes 45 business days. The email team asked me to file the chargeback form even though it was mentioned that it was already refunded by Apple. It was quite upsetting since refund should’ve been applied if I used a regular card.

Did you know you can cash out your Shopback earnings throug GCash, Read more..

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  • No Phone Support, unresponsive chat support and long wait response from their email support. 
    • This has been my concern for GCash even before. They have a phone number actually. That is 2882. I’ve been calling that number even years back and the only response I get is an automated voice that provides general information. I even tried pressing different numbers just to be routed to an actual rep but it never happened. I tried calling other customer care number to ask if they can transfer me. The prepaid department said they cannot transfer to a direct line. I called the postpaid department and they transferred me. After two hours of music, no one answered so I just gave up. Recently, I found out that they have chat support through messenger. But it’s no good either. I posted the description and they replied after 15 hours just to ask for the screenshot about my concerns. So I did send it. After 2 days no one responded, so I followed it up. Then I got an automated chat asking for details again. Till then no one ever responded again.
  • Their physical MasterCard with beep feature is something that I would like to have before. So I can do more with Gcash. The thing is all three globe stores I’ve gone through told me that they don’t issue that. They also mentioned that it is quite hard to get it now. I’ve been seeing on their site that they will implement online ordering for the said card. But a few months have passed still no such thing.
  • I am not a fan of their pay bills feature as well. Last time, I tried paying for my credit card and it was successful. So I did another payment the next day. It went through as well. After a week I cashed in a higher amount to pay the rest of my credit card bill. Then suddenly it gives me an error saying that the account number I am paying is incorrect. The account/card number I recently paid is actually auto-populating but it says incorrect. I even tried using *143# to see if it was just an app issue but the error still persists. I ended up using the money to purchase using QR payment methods because I don’t think it would be feasible to cash it out with fees. That’s actually the reason why I tried to contact them via messenger but it was so hopeless.
  • It is not so advisable for business. If you are planning to make money out of bills payments and buy load, I would highly recommend coins.ph than gcash. The thing is you only get 5% rebate on GCash and no rebates for Bills payments. Referral fees are just 20 PHP per user. So if it would be compared to coins.ph, the rebates and referral bonus you’ll get from Gcash are very low.
  • They also have some features that are interesting but not working properly since it is still in Beta. Like for example the GScore(Credit Score for GCredit). They say that this feature is available on selected customers only, I tried to check it out so I can have a write up about it. But when I’m trying to apply for the GCredit(a feature that allows gcash user to have a credit limit for QR purchasing) it keeps on saying continue using Gcash to increase your GScore. After weeks of monitoring, it never changes the score, then it suddenly went up. The next day it went zero, then turned back to the original Gscore. It is just weird maybe because it’s in Beta, but the Beta status has been like that for a while now. I think this is just a way of deceiving other users to continue using the service to increase the score that doesn’t really operate.

Related Post: Wise Usage of Credit Card

Update 05/22/2018

I noticed that my GScore went up again. Two days ago it was 465 and this morning it is 466. Although it is still saying that I am not eligible at least I can see that it is progressing. I usually use QR codes when purchasing maybe that’s how it will increase.

Gcash gscore